Sunday

BATH — Since she was paralyzed in a plane crash nine months ago, 21-year-old Bath resident Joci Scott has known she has a critical one- to two-year window where most of her healing will occur.

Now, with the help of exoskeleton technology, she’s making strides at the Cleveland Clinic that are bringing her a vital step closer to walking again.

Scott, a junior at Ohio State University, suffered a spinal cord injury July 19 that left her paralyzed from the hips down in the crash near Poughkeepsie, New York. All on the plane survived, including mother Dr. Tara Scott, father Dr. David Scott and brother Ryan.

Now home in Bath taking online college classes due to the coronavirus pandemic, Joci Scott has experienced a breakthrough working with exoskeleton technology with therapists at Cleveland Clinic’s Mellen Center.

The rehab exoskeleton is a wearable robotic technology that helps patients with spinal cord injuries and other diagnoses walk with the aid of a therapist and walker. It ultimately helps recovering patients with mobility independence, gait speed, walking distance and balance.

"My hips are working and that’s what we’re working on with the exoskeleton, to try to make them stronger," said Scott, who first noticed that she could move her hip flexors in November.

After her accident last summer, Scott went through spinal fusion surgery, followed by therapy at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in New Jersey, during which time she had a lightweight wheelchair custom built for her. She stayed home from school for a semester, continuing therapy at MetroHealth Medical Center and performing in her wheelchair in Weathervane Playhouse’s "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" before returning to Ohio State spring semester.

Therapy continued three times a week at Ohio State Martha Morehouse Outpatient Care. There, she worked on occupational therapy plus physical therapy that included gait training on a treadmill. With the help of a harness, three therapists stabilized her hips and legs and moved her knees to simulate walking.

"We just wanted to have me walking in some form," said Scott, a psychology major and musical theater minor.

She experienced a breakthrough in mid-February while doing pool therapy: Scott learned that her gluteal muscles were firing, allowing for movement in both legs.

"The glutes are below my level of [spinal cord] injury, so that’s very good news that those muscles are starting to turn on," Scott said. "It’s just another indicator that my cord wasn’t completely severed, like there’s still connectivity there."

Scott started feeling some sensation in her legs in the fall. She can also tell if her feet are up or down.

As Scott was heading back down to Ohio State on March 18 to move her belongings out of her dorm room, she got a call that all of her therapy appointments for the next month were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

She didn’t want to stop her treadmill work, so Scott and her mother met with Randy Karim the next day for a therapy evaluation at the Clinic’s Mellen Center. He suggested that she work with the exoskeleton that very day.

Scott and her mother’s research had indicated that most of the exoskeleton models moved patients’ legs for them. But not the eksoBionic GT, Karim said.

The machine, which runs down the side of each leg, straps across the waist and chest and is worn like a backpack. Batteries and touchscreen controls on the back allow therapists to adjust settings. Foot plates pick up the patient’s feet.

"Their model that they have can sense when you are trying to initiate a step," Scott said. "They can modify how much work the machine does in relation to how much your legs can do."

Scott’s first time using the exoskeleton March 19 was both weird and thrilling.

"The first session was really exciting," she recalled. "Most people take 100 steps their first time in it and I took 450."

On the first day, her right leg was doing 55% of the work and her left leg was doing 45%. Now, her left leg has improved to 50%.

"They’re pushing me really hard because they know I can do it,″ Scott said of her therapists, Matthew Sutliff and Karim.

Therapists fit the exoskeleton to Scott’s gait, with the step height, step length and swing speed — or how long the foot is in the air — adjusted for her.

Even as area hospitals ramp up for a coronavirus surge, Scott’s exoskeleton therapy has continued.

"We’re really thankful," she said. "The two-year window [for neurorecovery] is really important so we want to do everything that we can."

The technology has been a game changer for the 21-year-old. She’ll continue working with the exoskeleton twice a week for about a month to keep strengthening her hips and stimulating neurorecovery. The next step will be transitioning to a leg brace so she can walk with a walker at home.

"They’re really impressed with me every time I go in there so I think they want to expedite getting to the leg braces," she said. "A lot of what I’m learning is how to weight shift onto one leg and balance and trunk support in upright position" to prepare for leg braces.

At home, she drives a Subaru Legacy sedan with hand controls. She transfers herself and her wheelchair in and out of the car, which requires her to take the wheelchair apart and put it back together again. The process used to take her 15 minutes, but she’s whittled it down to three to five minutes each time.

"I’m a little rusty now since I’ve been at school," Scott said.

When she was living on campus at Ohio State, the determined young woman stayed in a handicap-accessible dorm efficiency with her own kitchenette and bathroom. A paratransit van transported her to her classes and therapy.

She takes four classes and had to build up her stamina. From the start, Scott was completely independent, transferring herself in and out of bed, showering, dressing and making herself food.

"It was kind of just finding your groove," Scott of dressing. "You just have to figure out what works for you because everybody’s different."

Looking toward the future, Scott will compete in the Ms. Wheelchair USA pageant in Cuyahoga Falls July 11-19. She won the title of Ms. Wheelchair Northern USA in February through an application based on her service, leadership and advocacy. Her platform for the pageant is inclusion in the arts for those with disabilities.

The end of the competition July 19 is an important milestone for her.

"The 19th is the one-year anniversary of my accident, so that’s kind of cool," Scott said.

Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @KerryClawsonABJ or www.facebook.com/kclawsonabj.

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